We posted Deirdre's story, in her own words, over the weekend. She talks about growing up in an Irish Catholic family with a long history of alcoholism — not that anybody talked about it. Her father and his brother used to torment their father, a subway motorman, when he went through the DTs, thinking that it was funny that he saw spiders and things.

Later, a 19-year-old Deirdre attempted suicide by overdosing on some pills. When she awoke in the emergency room, her mother's first words were, "How could you do this to us?" But her parents refused to believe that it was a suicide attempt — a greater sin in the Catholic hierarchy of moral transgressions than drug abuse — and her underlying depression went untreated for many years thereafter. For the whole story, see http://www.elephantonmain.com/chapters/backstories/deirdresstory/indeirdreswords.html.

Deirdre is on her way to St. Petersburg, Florida, this morning to participate in the taping of a webcast and satellite broadcast a panel discussion of co-occurring disorders — addiction and mental illness. “Drug Use & Mental Health,” a production of CADCA (Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of America) will be available for viewing on Dec. 8.

Last night we got a call from the producer at Donny Deutsch's "The Big Idea" who had originally talked to us about appearing on the show in October. Robert Shapiro and family were flying in for a taping at 2:15 this afternoon and she wanted to know if we could join them. Deirdre will be on an airplane and Duncan will be in school, so that left Carrick and me.

Carrick said no. She reluctantly agreed to appear on "The Big Idea" the first time around, but after being preempted for the "breaking news" of Pamela Anderson and Tommy Lee, she decided that no good could come out of appearing with Mr. Deutsch. I relayed that to the producer, who informed me that the breaking news had to do with "Aruba," and that even through we were scheduled to tape on that Monday, the Anderson/Lee show had long been scheduled to run on that date.

It's too bad that poor communication resulted in a blown opportunity for everyone involved to spread the message that recovery does happen, as fragile as it may be. But I understand Carrick's reluctance. It's hard to determine just how sincere Mr. Deutsch is, or if it's all about ratings.

Telling our story to a new audience would have been a powerful complement to the Shapiros, whose son overdosed on ecstasy in October. Brent Shapiro had been clean for 18 months, according to reports, before he had a few drinks and half a tab of ecstasy at an Eighties-themed party. I wrote the Shapiros after his appearance on Larry King last month: "As I have written to too many parents who have emailed us since the show aired, we know that it is just luck that the outcome for us was different from the tragic outcome that they have had to endure."

The Shapiros have set up the Brent Shapiro Foundation for Drug Awareness, 10250 Constellation Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90067. I can't find a website. Their appearance on "The Big Idea" will be aired on CNBC Wednesday, Dec. 1 at 10 p.m and Thursday morning 1 a.m. EST, I'm told.